Greenberg’s Lab Tips for Biological Scientists
(1)If the protocol works, don't change it (If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it).
(2)If the protocol doesn’t work, change it.
(3)If a protocol requires a laborious step, there is usually a reason for it – don’t try to avoid it (You are not as smart as you think).
(4)Two hours of work today will save you two days of work tomorrow.
(5)Every new experiment needs a positive control and a negative control (Corollary of (4), above).
(6)There are three types of experiments: One which yields interesting results, no matter the outcome (Type I), one which yields an interesting result, but only if it turns out one way (Type II), and one which yields ambiguous, uninterpretable results regardless of the outcome (Type III).Take your pick.
(7)Label every tube and record every experiment.
(8)Assume nothing. A corollary of this is that opinions don’t matter, only data does.
(9)Experiments often don’t work. Consider all the possible reason why an experiment fails and concentrate on the likeliest causes.
(10)Complicated, multi-step experiments never succeed unless they are simplified. Break up each experiment into its components, work on one at a time, and verify that each component works before proceeding on to the next (Take one step at a time).
(11)Don’t try to recreate the wheel. If someone else has successfully performed the same experiment as you plan to do, talk to her.
(12)Plan every experiment as if it will become a figure in a manuscript.
(13)If someone asks for your help, be as helpful as you can (What comes around, goes around).
(14)It is more important to be accurate than prolific. It’s also helpful to be prolific.
(15)If an experiment is not hypothesis-driven, then it can prove nothing.
(16)What matters in science is not what can possibly occur, but what actually does occur.
(17)Read widely. The most creative insights come from applying knowledge from outside one’s field.
